Film Courage: Have you ever written a screenplay where the intention was not to film it yourself?
Just write it for a director for hire to make?
Mark Harris, Writer/Director: Yes, my first ten screenplays was written other for directors
to direct because I had no desire to direct films at all.
It wasn’t until I did WHY MEN CHEAT and then everything after that is for me to I’m
going to direct this stuff.
But everything that was written prior to me directing my first feature was for other directors
to direct because I never had a desire to ever, ever direct a film until I actually
go on the set for the first time and I was like “Oh, this is what I’m passionate
about.”
Film Courage: Were you nervous or you just didn’t want to have that responsibility
of directing and managing 50 things at once.
Mark: Well when I first got on a film set days leading up to directing I was definitely
nervous but it wasn’t because I didn’t want to manage but it was because I didn’t
have the confidence because I didn’t know what I was doing so there was that insecurity
of not knowing what I was doing.
So we had all of those things going on.
I was insecure, I didn’t have the confidence that I have now because I didn’t know what
I was doing.
But this has been quite a few films whereas it took awhile to get the confidence for me
to deal with actors, to deal with…to know how to set up…to do my shot list and everything.
So this was over a period of time.
I didn’t just direct my first film.
Then my second film, I knew it.
Again for me it was like going though film school, every project is going through film
school.
But as I was learning I was building my confidence up at the same time because again if you don’t
know what you’re doing you’re insecure about what you’re doing.
And I wasn’t secure as far as being a director because I didn’t have the knowledge of what
I was doing.
Film Courage: I would imagine you were secure with sports?
You said earlier in the interview you played baseball and basketball at this local park
[near Chicago, IL] or something?
So could you take this same feeling of confidence to this?
In some ways it’s similar, you’re in a big arena, you’re playing with a bunch of
people.
Some are on your team, maybe some aren’t and you’re kind of moving around.
There is a lot of moving pieces
Mark: Yes but as it relates to sports because I played Little League Baseball which I wasn’t
very good at Baseball.
So when I played once (I was a Cubs fan), I love Shawn Donston, he was the short stop
for the Chicago Cubs and I wanted to play short stop because I was a Shawon Dunston
fan.
So when I got to Little League, I wanted to play.
They would hit the ball and I’d be “I don’t know about this?”
There was still that insecurity because I wasn’t a good baseball player.
Now basketball was different.
I was pretty good at basketball and I also wrestled.
I was a wrestler in high school so I was pretty good at wrestling.
But even when I started wrestling and I was losing I had to get that confidence to know
that I could win so when I came to my second year…so this is what my coach did (my wrestling
coach).
My first year I didn’t go down state because it was my first year wrestling so I was losing
a lot but he took me down state with the other city champions to help me as a wrestler but
that built my confidence up and I was like “I can do this.”
The next year I placed in City and the year after that I placed in City, so the next two
years I went down state.
But I had to have my confidence built.
As a filmmaker when I first hit that set I wasn’t sure who I was as a filmmaker because
there was that nervousness but I’m like “I’m going to do it.”
I wasn’t afraid, I overcame that fear, but I just needed more confidence because I lacked
the knowledge.
But once I started to go and do it, and do it more, and do it more, and do it more, it
just gave me an example you know when a father tells his son to jump off of a porch so he
can catch him and his son is hesitant at first so he does it one time.
Then the second time it becomes so natural for him to do it, so easy for him to do it
because he has that confidence that his father is going to catch him.
It was the same for me.
Once I did it one time “Okay…this is…I like this.”
Then the second time, the third time, the fourth time, with each time I was building
my confidence because I was learning more.
I was open to again the constructive criticism.
I was open to working with and collaborating and listening to people who knew more than
I knew and I had to put the ego aside and say “Okay, I’m going to learn.
This is what I want to do.”
So I didn’t go on this film set with pride and ego.
I went on there with I knew this was something I loved and something that I wanted to learn.
So I had put all of that aside and I had to overcome that fear.
But that confidence, I had to build that confidence.